Strike authorized at Multicare Good Samaritan

Strike vote comes as healthcare workers at several MultiCare facilities statewide continue fighting for fair contracts 

PUYALLUP, WA (August 19, 2026) — Ten months into contract negotiations, healthcare workers at MultiCare Good Samaritan have voted to launch an unfair labor practice strike if management continues to stalemate negotiations, per workers’ union SEIU Healthcare 1199NW. Bargaining is also currently underway at MultiCare facilities in Seattle and Yakima with negotiations soon to begin in Spokane. Healthcare workers in Puyallup are the first to authorize a strike.

A driving issue for the workers is low pay, as wages at MultiCare Good Samaritan fall below pay at other area healthcare facilities.

“It’s absurd that I can drive 25 minutes and make more for doing my exact same job at Tacoma General, which is also a MultiCare hospital,” said Shana Veillette, a patient care assistant. “No wonder there’s a staffing shortage at Good Samaritan. Same job, same community – it should be the same pay.”

Healthcare workers at MultiCare Good Samaritan in Puyallup pose for a photo with WA Speaker of the House Rep. Laurie Jinkins at an informational picket in April. Photo: SEIU Healthcare 1199NW

Low pay is creating a retention and recruitment crisis at Multicare facilities per healthcare workers, a disservice to communities with increasingly fewer healthcare options. Workers are also pushing for affordable healthcare benefits, as healthcare workers providing care for their patients are struggling to afford the cost of caring for their own loved ones.

“This is about more than just a raise – it’s about making sure the people who keep MultiCare running can afford to live and support their families,” said Nerissa Hayes, a medical supply distribution specialist.

Emerging from a bargaining session Monday, healthcare workers shared that MultiCare is engaging in blatantly anti-union tactics that disrespect workers’ rights to collectively bargain. In a video posted to SEIU Healthcare 1199NW social media, members of the bargaining team warned coworkers that management is desperately trying to break workers’ solidarity.

“Here’s what’s really going on: after 17 bargaining sessions, the MultiDON’TCare executives are making a last-ditch effort to break our union,” said bargaining team member Trevor Baumgardner. “They’ve seen our strength and our unity, including the open-ended strike vote we voted for last week, and management is desperate. They are so desperate to break our unity that they are threatening to subvert the shared bargaining process and implement wages that your bargaining team has not agreed to. The wage scales management is threatening to implement without agreement will continue to leave us underpaid and understaffed, far behind fellow MultiCare healthcare workers at Tacoma General.”

While MultiCare lowballs workers on wages, the healthcare company is spending big elsewhere, acquiring more facilities and dropping millions on advertising, a use of funds that SEIU Healthcare 1199NW called out in a cheeky action this past month.

Photos: SEIU Healthcare 1199NW

“Over the last few years, MultiCare has been rapidly expanding across the state, buying up hospitals and community clinics, yet can’t find the resources to pay healthcare workers equitably across the state,” said Jane Hopkins, registered nurse and president of SEIU Healthcare 1199NW, which is leading the MultiDON’TCare campaign. “A healthcare company this size should be leading the market in healthcare, wages, and benefits in order to attract and retain healthcare workers. But instead we’re seeing attempts to weaken workers’ rights.”

The next bargaining session is scheduled for September 2.